Tokyo so far...

I meant to try posting every night but by the time I set my mind to it I have been too exhausted. We have been keeping very busy all day. There is so much to see and do in Tokyo. One would have to spend years here to see and do everything. One thing's for sure: if I lived here I would be in much better shape! We spend all day walking for the most part and there's so much to see that it's a pleasure. Back home, I really have to motivate myself to go out and walk around. If they had half of the exciting things in St. Louis as they have here it would make it worth my while to do so.

Here's a brief overview of what I've been up to:

June 1st:
We started off the day visiting the Asakusa Sensoji, an old but still very popular Buddhist temple. It was almost like an amusement park with all the shops and vendors lining the walkway up to the place. Actually, there was a ride not too far off from the temple--like the Superman ride at Six Flags: St. Louis. It was intereting. I got my fortune for the day there--it was a good one. I say "good" as in it wasn't bad like another of my classmates'. Apparently there are good and bad fortunes. When you get a bad one, you can tie your piece of fortune paper onto a small rod in a designated area and at the end of the day, the monks will pray for you.
Next was the Kototoi Bridge where we learned of the hundreds of thousands of civilians that had been killed during WWII. Kototoi Bridge is a site where many thousands lost their lives during air raids as it was a heavily trafficked area. Many were trapped there and died.
Next, we visited the Tokyo Megaweb Showcase, a giant Toyota showroom and history museum. It was really neat. I'm sure that if I knew more about cars I would have been more impressed but as it is, I don't. It was still fun, though. I took many pictures.
Afterwards, I went exploring with Melissa from the class in Shibuya. That was an experience. I have never seen so many people on the streets in my entire life. It was very cool. We went to several shops and malls. It was...interesting to say the least. I think that I'll try to make another post soon with some of the pictures I've been taking.

June 2nd:
Began by going on a tour of the Yasukuni Shrine, a Shinto shrine. It was originally established as a military shrine where those who serve and die for the emporer are enshrined and made into gods. During WWII they had to pretend to be an ordinary shrine in order to keep from being destroyed by the Allied Powers. But now they are back to focusing on the military aspect of things, however they do still retain some of the services as regular shrines do.
Next we went on a tour of the Yasukuni Shrine's museum. It covered various wars which the Japanese have been involved in including WWII. It was very interesting getting the Japanese perspective on the wars, however many of the displays were not translated into English or, as we found out from our tour guide (Mr. Seishi Ishibashi), the English translations are very different from the Japanese descriptions.
We then went and saw the grounds of the Imperial Palace, however we didn't get to spend much time there because we were on a tight schedule.
Last, we were very fortunate to meet with Councilor Yukihisa Fujita of the National Diet of Japan. It was explained to me that he is equivallent to a US Senator. He spoke to us of various issues and answered our questions. He is a very well-spoken man and very down-to-Earth, it seems, despite his position. He quickly gained my favor. His party is attempting to hold an election in the coming months to overthrow the dominant political party that has been in office for more than 60 years. From what I have learned thus far, I hope that they succeed.
After that, I and several others went out to dinner in the Asakusa area. We spent some time walking around and looking at all the many shops and restuarants before heading back to the hotel.

I hope to post more of our adventures later. I apologize that these are not more detailed but I am exhausted.

I hope my friends and family back in the US are doing well and taking care of themselves. ^_^